Loving Vincent

If you are about to go to the cinema, I suggest you chose the polish masterpiece that makes history.

Loving Vincent is the first fully painted film created by Dorota Kobiela (Polish painter) and her husband Hugh Welchman (the Oscar-winning British animator), produced by polish BreakThru Films and english Trademark Films.

It was Dorota who first came with the idea for the movie. As an art student, she was strong interest in Van Gogh. What’s more, she battled with depression all life and she was inspired by Vincent and his ability to pick himself up from similar problems. Originally, she wanted to paint the whole movie herself but after transforming it from a short into a full-featured film, it would take her more than 80 years to do so.  

The movie tells a story of Armand Rouling (played by Douglas Booth), the son of Vincent’s friend, who travels to Auvers-sur-Oise in search of the real story behind the artist’s death. On his way, he meets a wide cast of characters (pictured in Van Gogh’s paintings), e.g. physician Dr. Gachet and his daughter, as well as other artist’s friends.

You probably wonder why I want you to see the movie about last days of Vincent Van Gough’s life, especially if the only thing you know about him is the fact that he cut off his ear. The truth is that what really makes the movie extraordinary is not the plot itself, but the techniques that have been used to created it.

The animation-style, stop-motion movie is made entirely from real oil paintings and the result looks as if Van Gogh’s figures have come to life. The development of the production technique took four years, another two painting process. The movie was shot in London against a green-screen background with an A-list cast of actors (e.g. Helen McCrory, Aidan Turner,  Saoirse Ronan, Douglas Booth and Eleanor Tomlinson) as a live action film, and then each shot was hand-painted over frame-by-frame in oils in the Dutchman’s distinctive style. The final effect is an interaction of the both actors and painters performance. It took 125 painters from 20 countries (65 from Poland) who traveled across the world to the studios in Poland and Greece to participate in the production process. As there were 12 paintings for each second of the movie, doing one second of the movie sometimes lasted up to 10 days.

The film has already been shown at several festivals, e.g. Telluride in Colorado and The Annecy Film Festival in France this June, where it got a standing ovation. The movie has also gotten the approval from the Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam and The Musée d’Orsay in Paris, which helped with research and plans to screen the film. 

Here you can check out when the movie will be screen in your country. Honestly, I can’t wait to see it.

We cannot speak other than by our paintings

V. Van Gough